COMEDY REVIEW : Standout Stand-Up Is in Control at Laff Stop

So why is Sean Morey a top-notch--if low-profile--comic who absolutely killed Wednesday at the Laff Stop in Newport Beach?

For starters, he’s a sharp, refreshing monologuist with a large supply of delightfully bent observations and suggestions.

He included a brief segment of song satires that stood out because he reflected more cleverness than most pop parodists--clever enough to realize that a few of these things go a long way.

Speaking of stand-up offshoots that quickly wear out their welcome, he also dropped in some juggling. But Morey also kept that section short--and inventive. This was “political juggling,” which had a lot more to do with topical commentary than the number of objects in the air.

And he excelled at interacting with the crowd, partly because Morey--casually clad and unassuming--was enormously engaging, partly because he’s very quick and partly because he’s obviously an experienced performer who is subtly yet totally in control on stage.

He’s clearly been around the block a few times. A hot, promising comic in the early ‘80s with a list of television credits as long as your forearm, topped by “The Tonight Show,” Morey faded so far from the limelight that many stand-up aficionados wouldn’t recognize the name.

If he’s gearing up to return to a high-profile, national TV-type career, Wednesday’s taut, excellent set is the kind of performance that will get him there fast. He could do a great “Tonight Show” spot, uh, tonight .

Morey consistently came up with neat observational and anecdotal stuff, whether spinning long yarns (his approach to supermarkets would make grocery shopping a fun and funny task) or throwing away tiny asides: Briefly addressing all the televangelists embroiled in scandal, he fretted, “I know they’re going to find Mother Teresa at Chippendales.” A moment later, he spoofed chatty waiters who bury you in detail: “(The fish) was born in a reef off Hawaii.”

Other standout stand-up moments included his “Reverse Life Cycle” piece, a carefully constructed, wildly witty proposal for how life would be much better if we instead went from death to the womb; it brought down the house.

As strong a monologuist as he is, Morey’s set wasn’t without a few weak moments. While discussing various aspects of Christmas, he suggested that, actually, there are only a small number of fruitcakes in the world, but they’re passed from household to household each year--a joke idea that similarly has passed from comic to comic. You also have to wonder why he bothered with condom jokes. That whole piece--including promoting a blanket refusal of condoms (“just say no”)--is material that is simply beneath him.

A knack for bending the familiar into the unusual, however, helped make his song parody distinctive--though it was immediately a bit different by virtue of his strapping on a banjo.

Saving the best for last, his final tune poked fun at Muzak by way of Barry Manilow: “I write the songs that make the elevators go/I write the songs that make the dentists work slow.”

During that section, he demonstrated that he can chat with a crowd as effectively as Jimmy Brogan or fellow former Bostonian Jay Leno.

From there, he moved into his closing piece: political juggling. Using three balls and a variety of juggling techniques, Morey visually represented such current events or recent issues as: “The Persian Gulf Peace Plan . . . the Iran-Contra Scandal Pass-the-Buck Juggle . . . the Ronald Reagan Balanced Budget (then, dropping a ball: Runaway inflation! ) . . . the Chernobyl Meltdown Aftereffects.”

Of course, to fully appreciate the imagination and impact of this last section, you hadda be there. But that’s the point: Morey is sufficiently good and refreshing that--sometime between now and Sunday--you should make every effort to be there.

The Laff Stop is at 2122 S.E. Bristol St., Newport Beach. Show times: 8:30 and 10:30 tonight; 8, 10 and 11:45 p.m. Saturday; 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $6-$8. (714) 852-8762.